DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The Senate sent a bill changing how the state defines “bullying” to the governor Tuesday despite concerns by some Democrats that the measure will make it more difficult for schools to enforce anti-bullying protections.

Currently, Iowa code defines bullying and harassment in schools as electronic, written, verbal, or physical acts or conduct that create an objectively hostile school environment for a student based on “any actual or perceived trait or characteristic.” There are 17 traits listed as potential characteristics of a student that could be used in bullying, including age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and political belief. The law states that bullying is not limited to these categories.

House File 865, approved 32-16, would remove this list and reference to students being bullied because of an actual or perceived trait of a student, instead defining bullying and harassment as “repeated and targeted” acts and conduct that create a hostile school environment for a student. Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, said this change is needed because some schools are not addressing bullying incidents if a student is being bullied for a reason not related to a listed trait.

“Those schools don’t believe they are required to act unless the behavior is based on one of the traits listed, those school officials believing their hands are tied,” Salmon said. “This has resulted in an unequal treatment of students and underreporting of bullying. The bill removes that confusion and clarifies that all students should receive an equal level of protection.”

But Democrats said the measure will weaken Iowa’s laws on bullying. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said bullying is a “life of death matter” — she has known students who have died by suicide because of bullying, and Trone Garriott said it would be more difficult for families with students who are bullied to get support and responses from schools if the bill becomes law.

The law is not limited to the traits listed, Trone Garriott said, but having the 17 characteristics in law for reference helps schools and families both identify and track many of the major reasons why students are bullied, she said.

“I think the real intent might be to make it harder for folks on this list to get the support they need, and for the people of Iowa to know what’s happening in our schools,” Trone Garriott said. “This bill makes it harder. This bill removes guidance. This bill is not going to protect anyone. It’s going to make our students more vulnerable.”

Sen. Matt Blake, D-Urbandale, said he was bullied in school, and suffered severe depression during middle school and high school because of the bullying he faced. He said the bill will make it harder for students like him to seek help from schools, saying the definition of bullying as “repeated and targeted” acts and conduct will not cover much of the harassment students face.

“The instance of my life when I was the lowest, where I went home from school and cried for the entire day and the entire afternoon, is because some child, student, that had never bullied me before said one mean word to me, and that’s what set me off that day,” Blake said. “You never know what that behavior will be that sets a child off, and taking these restrictions and making it harder to protect our children is not something we should be doing in this body.”

Sen. Mike Zimmer, D-DeWitt, the former president of the Central DeWitt School Board, called for lawmakers to look at how their local school districts address bullying. He said Iowa school districts already have board policies created to define and address bullying, which includes the ability to report bullying and harassment incidents using an online form.

“The vehicle to address bullying and harassment is already in code, it is already in board policy,” Zimmer said. “It is in every single school district in this state. If an administrator is misinterpreting this, this is not going to solve that. That’s an issue that’s got to be handled internally between the superintendent their subordinates.”

He said a better approach, if there is a problem with school officials not addressing bullying if it does not involve harassment based on limited traits, would be doing more to inform parents about the existing policy and platform.

Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said that while Zimmer’s point was correct — a board policy and procedure on how to report bullying exists — he said there are some school districts misinterpreting the law so that if a bullied student does not have an identity or characteristic listed in the Iowa code, “they’re passing it off as just two kids that were having a disagreement or a misunderstanding or a skirmish.”

“Every child should be protected in schools, every child, not just because they match up some certain traits that we decided to laundry list a number of years ago in Iowa code,” Evans said. “The bill that is before us cleans up Iowa code. It makes it very clear that it should apply to the majority of school board policies already on the books, but it ensures that every kid — even though their traits may not be listed in Iowa code — that they get the same protections as everyone else.”

The measure heads to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ desk.

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